Devil's Eye
by SV XII
Summary: When assassins appear in Mist, Cloud, and Stone blame is placed on Leaf and Sand. Unable to prove their innocence it's only a matter of time before both are overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the true enemy is watching...and waiting for their chance to strike.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Seven shinobi ran through the crowded streets of Hidden Mist, not together but coming from every direction towards the center of the village. Civilians cleared out of their way as they passed all of them knowing better than to get into the way of any of these men right now. They were The Seven Swordsman of the Mist, essentially Hidden Mist's special forces and right now they were on the most important mission they'd had in years. They didn't know any more than the civilians did about what was happening, but that was more than enough. Less than five minutes ago an explosion had sounded from the mansion in the center of the village. The Mizukage was under attack.

A young man with dark brown hair tied back in a tail that hung halfway down his back and a metallic black mask covering his face was the first of the seven to arrive. From what he'd seen on his way through the village there had been a battle going on on the roof. With no hesitation he drew the two katana from his back and ran straight up the wall. The sight that greeted him at the top was not a pleasant one.

He couldn't stop his eyes from widening in shock at the scene before him. The Mizukage lay face down in a pool of what was clearly his own blood. Standing a few feet away from the body was a man dressed entirely in black. His shirt had no sleeves but appeared that it once had, as if they had born torn off. In fact all of his clothing looked ragged. In his right hand he held a large scythe with blood still dripping from it's tip.

"Don't move! There's no way for you to get out of here, just surrender quietly and maybe I won't kill you!" The swordsman shouted at the man who had apparently just killed the Mizukage in a fair fight, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

The man turned his head to face the Mist shinobi just long enough for the fact that the lower half of his face was hidden by a cloth mask to be revealed. And more importantly, long enough for the swordsman to get a look at the symbol on his forehead protector. Then he suddenly dissolved into a cloud of sand.

An extra second's hesitation and he would've been as dead as his Kage was. He felt it coming and spun around to block the scythe with one of his swords at the last possible second. The katana was thrown from his hand and skidded across the roof as the swordsman jumped backwards to put some distance between himself and his attacker. His eyes quickly settled on the forehead protector again. "We're your allies, what the hell is the meaning of this?!" He demanded.

"I'm here to deliver a message from my village," The assassin stated calmly. "the alliance is over."

He raised his scythe and started forward to deliver the final blow but stopped suddenly as two more members of The Seven Swordsmen appeared on the roof in front of him. One wielding a massive double bladed sword and the other holding a katana made purely from electricity. The first of the new arrivals glanced over his shoulder at the masked man. "Are you alright, Seigen?"

"I've been better, but I'll live." He responded as he lined up beside the two of them.

The scythe wielder turned quickly as if to escape only to find the remaining four Swordsmen standing behind him, blocking his retreat. The seven of them formed a circle around him, closing him in completely. "It's over. No matter how good you are you can't fight all seven of us at once."

Seigen could tell that the man smiled behind his mask as he turned to face him. Then without any warning he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and coughed up blood while taking a surprised step backwards. Looking down he saw that five swords had pierced straight through him. As the enemy dissolved into sand again he collapsed onto his knees. A cloud of sand blew past him through the hole he'd opened in the circle by falling and suddenly the pain began to fade away.

"Is he alright?" He heard one of the Swordsmen ask as another quickly approached him.

"He's fine! It looks like he was hit by some pretty powerful Genjutsu, but he'll recover. Everyone after that bastard!" The man who had come to him shouted to the rest of the group.

The assassin was already gone though. The Seven Swordsmen would spend the rest of the evening and all of the night searching the village for him, but they would fail. In the morning two announcements would be made. The first would be that the Mizukage had been killed. The second would be that Hidden Sand had declared war.

* * *

At nearly the same time a group of Hidden Cloud Jounin stood around the body of the Raikage. Their response had been slower than that of Hidden Mist and they hadn't even gotten a look at the assassin. Like Mist however they would have a large force searching the village and the surrounding areas all night only to return empty handed.

* * *

Kyoshin Yamada, the current Tsuchikage of Hidden Stone, thrust his hand out toward the man who had just appeared in his office. Five shuriken made of pure chakra shot forward as if he had thrown them, every one of them striking the would-be assassin in the chest. Yamada had known better than to believe that it would be the end though. To have made it past his personal guards this man had to above Jounin level in skill.

As he had expected the man blew apart as the weapons hit him, revealing it to have only been a clone. What he had not expected was for the clone to seperate into a swarm of flying insects. The Kage performed seals at a speed that would have been impossible for most shinobi and blew a stream of flame from his mouth, incinerating the bugs. "Aburame..." He muttered.

To the Kyoshin Clan that prided itself on it's ability to create weapons from their chakra, the chakra devouring insects of the Aburame Clan were the worst possible enemy. Yamada quickly moved out into the hallway to find the three guards who had been stationed that evening dead on the ground. He casually moved his head to the side to avoid the kunai that had been thrown from the other end of the hallway.

"Who are you and why are you in Hidden Stone? I hope for the sake of Hidden Leaf that you're not acting on the orders of your village." The Tsuchikage said in a perfectly calm voice that didn't fit the situation at all.

"My name is Aburame Koden. It is your village that should be afraid, not mine. I am here on the orders of the Hokage to end the alliance between our villages by taking your head, Kyoshin Yamada." The man who identified himself as Koden spoke in a tone just as calm as the Tsuchikage's.

"I see...," The man responded with slight anger beginning to appear on his face, "then let's get straight to business, shall we?"

As he finished speaking he used the same technique he'd used against the clone, throwing shuriken of chakra at what he believed was the real enemy this time. Instead of five like he'd fired before this time the count was much closer to fifty, enough to fill the hallway to the point of making it nearly impossible for anyone to dodge them all. Koden threw his arms out as well and insects poured out of his sleeves, forming a wall from their own bodies just in time to protect their master from harm.

The assassin burst through the wall of bugs drawing a wakizashi from his waist as he charged his target. As Koden swung the blade, Yamada formed a katana from his chakra and defended himself just in time. The Tsuchikage shoved forward with all his strength and being the more powerful of the two, Koden was knocked onto his back. He reacted quickly and allowed another small swarm of insects to leave his body and land on the chakra sword. It took less them less than a second to completely devour the weapon.

Yamada dove backwards, just barely avoiding another kunai thrown by the Aburame as he got back onto his feet. "You're fast, Aburame. But Leaf was stupid to send you to fight a Kage on your own. It's a shame that someone with your potential has to die here."

With that he formed another sword, much longer than the first, and pierced Koden straight through the heart. While he should have died instantly the assassin simply smirked. "I don't know if you've noticed or not, but you haven't landed a solid blow on me since we started fighting in this hallway."

Even as he spoke his body began crumbling into insects and the blade vanished as the chakra that composed it was devoured in an instant. "That...was only a clone!?" Yamada demanded in both fury and surprise.

Kyoshin Yamada never found out whether or not his enemy intended to attempt another attack, because at that moment five Elite Jounin burst into the hallway and surrounded him in a protective circle. "Are you injured, Tsuchikage-sama?" The leader of the group asked immediately.

"No. He didn't get me." He paused for a moment before continuing. "It was a member of the Aburame Clan. Hidden Leaf has declared war on us. Send one of your men to gather another group of Elite Jounin to find that bastard. I want him alive for questioning. And do not send word to any of allies yet. We don't know how many of them have turned against us."

"Yes, sir! Arata, you know what to do." The leader said to one of his subordinates who simply bowed and ran back out the way they had come in.

"There's been no war since the battles against Akatsuki eleven years ago...just what is Leaf thinking attacking us now?" The Tsuchikage muttered as he walked back towards his office, followed closely by his new bodyguards.


	2. Setup

**Setup**

Hyuuga Neji knocked twice on the door of the Hokage's office in Hidden Leaf. He hadn't changed too much appearance wise in the past decade. His black hair was still the long style common in the Hyuuga Clan and he wore the clan's white outfit. It allowed the freedom of movement necessary to use his fighting style at it's best. Over his face however he wore a painted mask slightly resembling the face of a dragon.

After the Akatsuki issue had been resolved he had joined the ANBU, Hidden Leaf's special forces, and within two years had been promoted to Captain and given command of his own squad. One of his subordinates had been playing the part of a civilian in Hidden Stone and feeding information back to the rest of the team. Even in times of peace it could never hurt to be cautious. As such, he was the first to know of the assassination attempt. Therefore making Neji the second. A moment after knocking he heard a tired sounding voice from inside the room. "Enter."

He pushed the door open and gave a slight bow to the man behind the desk as he entered, shutting the door behind him. Sitting before him was the Sixth Hokage, Hatake Kakashi. Even though he was only in his late thirties the copy ninja had visibly aged. His outfit however hadn't changed even the slightest bit. "Hyuuga Neji...your team isn't expected back for another week." Kakashi said in a questioning tone.

"I have vital information, Hokage-sama. Three days ago there was an assassination attempt on the Tsuchikage." He stated in his usual, professional tone.

At this news Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed and he suddenly looked less tired. "Do we know who was behind it?" He asked quickly.

Now it was Neji's turn to narrow his eyes, but not suspiciously. In fact a large part of him had been expecting a response like this. He led one of the top ANBU squads. If Leaf was planning to kill a Kage he was pretty sure that his team would have been informed. Especially considering that he had a man there. "Apparently, we are. According to the report he was attacked by an Aburame."

Kakashi stood up and glanced out the window, looking out over the entire village. "Neji, I want your team to gather as much information as you can. I want to know who's going to these lengths to set us up and why."

"Understood, Hokage-sama." Neji said as he bowed and took his leave from the office.

* * *

"Thank you! I don't know what we would have done without you!" The mayor of a small village on the western border of the Fire Country exclaimed to the blond shinobi before him. 

The Leaf shinobi scratched the back of his head and laughed, speaking in a voice that was entirely too loud for his profession. "It was nothing! You know, one time I-"

"Naruto, quit bragging and let's go. We were supposed to be back in Konoha three days ago. Kakashi-sensei has probably already declared us both dead!" His pink haired teammate called to him from the gate leading out of town.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming, Sakura." Naruto called to her, giving one last farewell to the mayor before chasing after the woman.

Uzumaki Naruto had grown up to look almost exactly like his father, the Fourth Hokage. He'd finally traded in his orange outfit for more standard shinobi colors about five years ago. Now he dressed in a lightweight tan outfit over which he wore his old Jounin Vest. After defeating the seemingly undefeatable leader of Akatsuki on his own he had been jumped straight from Genin to Jounin without having to go through any exams. Making him only the third shinobi in the history of Konoha to reach Jounin rank without ever seeing Chuunin.

As far as personality went though he was still the hyperactive joker he'd always been. Though he had definitely become smarter over the years and was perfectly capable of being serious when it was necessary, most of the time he acted as immature as he could manage.

Haruno Sakura hadn't changed nearly as much. She had grown her hair out again so that it now reached her waist and she had gotten a bit taller. But other than that she was still the same Sakura. Though she hadn't gotten the huge jump in rank Naruto had received, she too had reached Jounin level and was one of the most well respected medics in the village.

The two of them had been sent to deal with an issue of a few rogue shinobi harassing a border town for supplies, a problem which had been cleared up on schedule as none of the enemies turned out to be any better than lower Chuunin level. The delay had been caused by taking the extra time to help heal the residents who had been wounded in the confrontation.

"Hey, wait up Sakura-chan!" Naruto called after her.

"Hurry up! We can't afford to waste any more time here." She called back, not slowing down at all.

"Come on, if they already think we're dead what's another day gonna hurt?" He responded with a laugh, increasing his own pace to close the distance.

"I didn't want to come on this mission in the first place. The only reason I did was because you practically started begging in the middle of the hospital." She said with a slight smirk that showed she really wasn't that angry about it.

A moment later he caught up and ran alongside her. One of his serious expressions crossed his face as he spoke. "It's a good thing you came. Some of those people might've died if you hadn't." He said in a calm tone that was very much unlike him.

Before she could say anything in response though his stupid grin returned in full. "So what do you say we go out for ramen when we get back? My treat."

"Not a chance." She responded, her smirk growing as she sped up to leave him behind again.

* * *

Sasaki Seigen punched the wall of his hospital room in Hidden Mist. He didn't need to be here, but after the incident with the Sand shinobi the other six had insisted that he get checked out. It didn't matter how much the doctors insisted he needed to rest, it had only been a genjutsu. He was perfectly fine to get out there and help hunt for the assassin. 

The door of the room opened and he turned to see another of The Seven Swordsman and his former sensei enter. He was a large and muscular old man with almost no hair left who normally wielded a massive double bladed sword. "Are you doing alright, Sei?"

"I'm perfectly fine, Gyou-sensei. I shouldn't be here at all! I should be out there helping the rest of you!" He demanded.

"As impatient as ever I see. You'd work yourself to death if the rest of us would let you." Gyou said with a heavy sigh. "But it doesn't matter anymore. It's already been three days since the assassination, the search has been called off for the time being."

"Called off!? Who has the authority to do that?" His temper was growing gradually worse as this conversation went on.

"The Council has taken temporary command until a new Mizukage can be selected. I guess the previous one had expected to live another ten years at least...he hadn't even chosen a few potential candidates to take his place after he was gone." The older man paused for a moment then. "Once things regain some sanity around here we're probably going to war you know."

"Good. The traitors deserve to die for this. The Seven Swordsmen haven't had a real battle to fight since I became a member."

"Well I suppose it was only a matter of time before the peace collapsed. But I have to admit that I was hoping I wouldn't live to see it. Get some rest Seigen, we're going to be receiving a mission soon." And with that final note, Gyou turned and let himself out of the room.

* * *

"We've received the reports from our contacts in the other villages, Tsuchikage-sama. It seems the Raikage and Mizukage are both dead. You're the only one who survived the attacks. It was a joint effort between Leaf and Sand. Both villages have turned against us." The Stone Jounin bowing before the Kage said quickly. 

"I see. Then the alliances really have been broken. Has our first strike team been assembled?"

"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama. They are prepared to move on your order." The man answered.

"Good. Who's in charge?"

"An Elite Jounin named Itoshi Arata, sir. He's one of the best ninjutsu specialists in the village and well known for his strategic approach to missions. I don't believe we could've chosen a better candidate." Still speaking quickly, he was clearly nervous in the presence of the Tsuchikage.

"I only needed a name, I can read his file myself. But thank you for the life story." The Kage said with a small laugh. "On your way out have word sent to Mist and Cloud. Tell them that Hidden Stone is still their ally and will support them if they're willing to do the same for us. You're dismissed."

The man stood, bowed again, then started towards the door to carry out his small mission when Yamada spoke again. "Oh, and one more thing. Have this Itoshi Arata character sent to me as soon as possible. I'd like to speak with him myself."

As the Jounin left Kyoshin Yamada turned and walked over to the large oval window looking out over his village, totally unaware that his new enemy the Hokage was doing the exact same thing at the very same time. It was official now. It was almost time for the first shinobi war in eleven years to begin.


	3. The War Begins

**The War Begins**

"Are you saying that I'm a suspect?" Aburame Shino asked the ANBU Captain sitting in the chair across from him.

After leaving the Hokage's office Neji's first stop was elsewhere in the same building. A high security room in the basement where records on all Leaf shinobi active in the past year was stored. The only clue he had to go on was that the assassin had been an Aburame and so he had spent nearly five hours doing research on every member of the clan. Then he went to speak to Shino.

The two were currently sitting across from each other at the sole table in the Aburame's small apartment. Neji hadn't been surpised at all to find that even off duty Shino was wearing an outfit that made it almost impossible to see him at all. Only his hands and a small part of his face were visible, from what could be seen he hadn't shaved in at least a week and his hair was still it's old wild mess. He had in fact grown up to look very much like his father.

"No. I always found you trustworthy back when we were still on the same ANBU Squad." Neji stated in response.

"You checked the records to see the last time I left the village anyway though, right?" This sounded less like a question and more like a statement of fact.

"Of course." Neji said with a slight smirk. "But that aside I also looked into the rest of your clan. No Aburame has left the village on a mission in almost a week. You were all in the village when the attack occured."

"I see." Shino said as he got up from his seat and started towards the door. "Then if we're done here I have things to do today."

While Hyuuga Neji wasn't exactly the most social person alive, Aburame Shino was many times worse. The only people he was ever seen really talking to were Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and occasionally his old sensei Yuuhi Kurenai. But even knowing that it would annoy him Neji still had some questions he needed to ask before letting him leave.

"Sit down, Shino. We're not done here. I still have a couple questions about one member of your family." He said with authority. He was Shino's superior after all. They were both ANBU, but only one of them was a Captain.

Rather than sitting Shino just turned around and stared at Neji. "Who?" He asked calmly.

"While I was doing my research an uncle of yours caught my eye. According to the records he was killed in action four months ago, but that was just an assumption as his body was never recovered. If there's any chance that he could still be alive..." He trailed off as Shino approached the table and placed a hand on it, glaring at the Hyuuga.

"That's enough, Neji. I was close to him and would prefer you not go telling anyone rumors about him causing what will likely turn into a full scale war. If he were alive he would be in this village. There's nothing that would have made Koden turn against Konoha."

This time when Shino turned and walked away Neji let him go. He knew there was no need to remind the man that everything was still confidential. After a moment of sitting there thinking he decided that he should probably let himself out before someone caught him just sitting alone in Shino's apartment.

* * *

At the same moment Shino was insisting he was dead, the very much alive Aburame Koden stood beside a large rock at the in the center of a field about twenty miles north of Hidden Grass. Koden looked almost nothing like the rest of his clan. He wore clothes that hid most of his body but no shades to hide his eyes. His hair was spiky and a pale blond color, despite being in his fifties it hadn't even begun to gray yet.

The rock he stood beside was the only one of it's size in sight. That was the only reason Koden had been able to find it in time. A complex seal was drawn on it's surface in what was most likely blood. He'd been there for hours, but judging by the sun's position he thought it was almost time. As if reading his mind the seal began to glow with a dark purple chakra and a whispering voice came forth from it. "Identify yourself." It said.

"It is Aburame Koden, master. I have failed the mission. The Tsuchikage lives." He spoke to the rock in an ashamed voice.

"I already know that, Koden. But don't worry too much. The other two were successful. The Mizukage and Raikage are both dead and both villages are preparing to go to war with Leaf and Sand. I thought your insects could deal with the secret ninjutsu of the Kyoshin Clan, but perhaps your failure will work to our advantage." The rock whispered calmly.

"I am sorry, master. I won't fail you again."

"Stop apologizing, I told you not to worry. You're not going to be punished. If I were that kind of person you wouldn't be following me in the first place, would you? Our objective must be accomplished, but one failure is not enough to be more than a minor setback. I'll be assigning you your second mission now. As before, I will contact you after your complete it at the time and place specified on the scroll. Good luck, Koden."

The man opened his mouth to say something else, but it was too late. The seal vanished in a puff of white smoke and a small scroll sat on the rock in it's place. He picked it up lightly and unrolled it, determined to do this mission right. Punishment or not this was too important for him to fail. They were going to change the world and no matter what it took he was going to help.

* * *

Itoshi Arata stood at the eastern gate of Hidden Stone looking over the members of his team. All together there were seven of them including himself. Five of the members were men and women Arata had worked with personally over his career and knew them to be the best of the best. He was much less pleased about the sixth member, who had been assigned to the team by order of the Tsuchikage. She was Kyoshin Miyako, daughter of Kyoshin Yamada.

At seventeen she was the youngest member of the squad and had only been promoted to Jounin a year ago. Though it wasn't doubt in her ability that made Arata loathe the idea of taking her. It was the fact that if anything went wrong and she was killed he would be the one who had to explain to the Tsuchikage how his daughter died. Yamada was usually a kind man but when angered he could become a monster. Arata hoped he would never witness that side of him.

Itoshi Arata himself had just turned thirty and had been an Elite Jounin since twenty. He was a mountain of a man at just under six and a half feet tall and made of nothing but muscle. One of his greatest advantages was that his enemy always assumed him to be a powerful taijutsu user and were caught completely off guard when he started using his high level earth based ninjutsu. It was that ninjutsu that he was most known for and he had personally developed several S-Rank techniques. He had dark skin and even darker brown hair. His eyes were the only thing that didn't seem to fit in, violet in color and with a gentle look to them.

Kyoshin Miyako was the exact opposite of him except for the fact that she too specialized in ninjutsu. She was just over five feet tall with pale skin and pure white hair that almost reached the ground. Her eyes were dark blue but had a quality to them that was almost scary. There was no emotion there at all, a side-effect of having been trained to kill since an even younger age than most shinobi.

The team leader shook his doubts off though as he faced his soldiers. They were about to head into their first mission. "You're all here because you're the best shinobi this village has to offer! Hidden Leaf has declared war on us and attempted to kill our Tsuchikage and they will pay for betraying us. Our mission is the destruction of three border villages in the Fire Country. Two are farming villages and the third is one of their weapon suppliers. Our goal is to weaken them by cutting off their food and arms supplies. Now...let's move out!"

He turned towards the opening gate as one of the men, an old friend of his, cheered his little speech. The only one that didn't show any positive reaction at all was Miyako. It was already easy to tell that he wasn't going to like her much. But he'd worry about that later. The moment the gate was opened wide enough for him to fit through, he began to run. The other six followed close behind. Their departure from Hidden Stone marked the official beginning of what would become one of the greatest wars in history.

* * *

On an island clear across the continent Sasaki Seigen, Hiroshi Gyou, and the other five members of The Seven Swordsmen stood before the Mist Council. None knew for sure why they'd been called there, but all could guess. They were going to war. Their predictions were confirmed when the old man in the center of the long table before them stood up and began to speak. "Swordsmen, you are here because our leader has been murdered by an enemy village. We have received word from Hidden Stone that they and Cloud were both victims of attacks three days ago. We have yet to hear from Cloud but the Raikage has been killed as well, only the Tsuchikage survived the attacks. While we can't be too trusting in times like these and we will continue to watch both villages carefully, Stone has offered us their support if we choose to fight. And so we will. Our first move will be a joint attack on Hidden Leaf, which has apparently remained allied with Sand and even assisted in their betrayal."

He motioned to one of the other council members and she set four scrolls on the table in front of her, then the man continued speaking. "You will split into groups of two. I will allow you to choose the teams yourselves as you know better than we do who you work well with. One of you unfortunately will work alone. Once the teams are decided you will each take one scroll and complete the mission on it. I wish you all the best of luck."

Seigen turned to Gyou and grinned. "Looks like we're going to be a team again, Gyou-sensei."

"Yeah..." the much older man said with a sigh. "Let's get this over with."


	4. A New Mission

**A New Mission**

It was late the next afternoon when Naruto and Sakura arrived in Konoha. They could both tell right away that something wasn't right. The north gate, which had always sat open during the day for the past several years, had been sealed. Once inside they quickly noticed the greatly increased presense of ANBU everywhere they went as they made their way towards the Hokage Tower to report the success of their mission.

"What do you think happened...?" Sakura asked, thinking out loud more than actually speaking to anyone.

Naruto responded anyway, speaking in a carefree tone. "Who knows. It's probably not that big a deal though. We'll just ask Kakashi-sensei while we're here."

"Yeah...I hope you're right." Even as she said them she realized that those were words she'd never before said to her teammate and would probably never say again.

Without bothering to knock when they arrived Naruto simply burst through the door and shouted "We're back, Kakashi-sensei!"

The stupid grin vanished from his face when he saw the look on the Hokage's. Neither of them had ever seen their sensei so obviously worried. Before Naruto had the chance to say anything else Sakura stepped up in front of him and asked the question. "Kakashi-sensei...what's going on?"

He looked at her and stated plainly "Hidden Cloud, Hidden Stone, and Hidden Mist have declared war on us and Hidden Sand."

"Eh!? What the hell are they trying to pull!?" The loud blond shouted over Sakura's shoulder.

"According to our contacts we've been framed for the assassination of the Raikage and Mizukage, and the attempted assassination of the Tsuchikage..." He paused for a moment, then continued. "I already have another mission prepared for the two of you."

Naruto just listened in interest, but Sakura started to protest. "Sensei...if a war's about to start shouldn't I be at the hospital to help the injured?"

"We have plenty of medics, very few of which are as skilled in actual combat as you are. You'll be more useful in the field." He responded.

She thought for a moment before realizing he was right and nodding in agreement, then waited for the order. As soon as Kakashi was sure neither of them had anything else to say he explained. "You'll be joining Nara Shikamaru's unit, along with Akimichi Chouji, and heading somewhere you haven't been since your first real mission...the Wave Country."

"Huh? Why would we go there? Shouldn't we be defending the village?" Naruto questioned, clearly confused.

"Even you should know that after we allowed them to finish their bridge, the country became a large importer of various goods to the Fire Country. If Hidden Mist is going to attack us, they'll probably try to cut us off from our supplies first." Kakashi explained.

"Ah...right." Naruto responded with a half-hearted grin appearing on his face.

"Anyway, the two of you should get as much as rest as you can tonight. Your team's meeting at the east gate at dawn."

After both confirmed that they understand, they took their leave of the tower and headed for home.

* * *

It was just slightly after midnight and Aburame Shino was standing in the Konoha Cemetary. As creepy as it was it seemed like a good place for a meeting that wouldn't be disturbed. He glanced over at the gate at the entrance as he spotted the two people he'd asked to meet him. "Shino, you're a freak. You know that right? Of all the places in Konoha..."

The speaker was his former teammate, Inuzuka Kiba. He was dressed all in black and was almost invisible in the darkness, as was the solid black dog that stood beside him. Akamaru had grown too old for combat and now remained at home while Kiba went out on his missions. This new dog, Kuromaru, had taken his place. Like the majority of the former Genin Twelve, Kiba was now a Jounin.

Directly behind him was Hyuuga Hinata. If any of them had changed since their Genin days, it was her. Not so much in appearance aside from the fact that she now carried a katana everywhere she went, but in personality. She'd finally done away with her shyness and had become a strong shinobi, reaching Jounin level only slightly behind her cousin Neji. "You should try being a little nicer, Kiba." She said in a teasing voice that was so unlike her former self.

"Hey, he's the one that told us to meet him at midnight in a freaking graveyard. Say what you want, but that's not exactly normal behavior." The canine shinobi said with a laugh.

However Shino didn't react in any way other than simply giving them each a nod and saying "Thanks for coming."

"No need to thank us. Even if it's not official, we're still a team. What's this about?" Hinata asked.

"I'm sure by now you've both heard the news. Konoha is about to go to war against three of the five great villages." He waited for them to nod, then went on. "What you probably haven't heard is that the Tsuchikage was attacked by a member of my clan."

"What? Who was it!?" Kiba seemed genuinly shocked, and the look on Hinata's face said the same.

"I don't know. That's why I asked you to meet me here. I need to find out who's behind this and I can't do it on my own. You're the only people I trust enough to ask. So...will you come with me to the Earth Country?"

Kiba couldn't help but laugh a little. "You know, I've known you for nearly fifteen years and I think that's the first time you've ever asked me for anything. Alright, count me in."

"Me too. You'd probably get killed without me around, Kiba." Hinata added.

"Yeah, yeah...whatever you say. When are we leaving bugman?"

"Unless either of you need to gather your equipment, we'll leave right away. It'll be best to go under cover of darkness and with any luck we'll be long gone before anyone realizes we're missing."

A minute later the group agreed that there was no reason to waste any time, and the three of them set out for the northeast corner of the village. From there they would cross the wall and begin their self-assigned mission.

* * *

Naruto was the last person to arrive at the east gate. In fact, he was the last one by about thirty minutes. If there was one thing he had picked up from Kakashi over the years it was his ability to keep a schedule. "Idiot, where the hell were you!? We were about ready to just leave you behind!" Sakura screamed the moment she spotted him.

"Sorry, I stopped for breakfast and lost track of time."

"Can't get mad at a man for needing his food!" Chouji said with a hearty laugh before Sakura had time to scold him anymore.

If one had to describe Akimichi Chouji in a single word, that word would be 'huge'. He was a little over six feet tall and had lost most of his fat, replacing it with muscle. He wore the Akimichi armor that had once belonged to his father instead of the vest worn by most Jounin. Beside him, Nara Shikamaru looked tiny. He also looked exhausted. He still wore his hair in the same style and had a hint of a stubble on his chin. The pouches on his belt were also so full of scrolls that some of them couldn't even close properly.

"We've been standing here long enough. Let's get moving before I fall asleep again." Their team leader followed this up immediately with a loud yawn.

"Oi! Open the gate!" Naruto shouted to the guards standing in the watchtowers on either side.

A moment later the gate creaked open and the four of them began their journey towards the Wave Country.

* * *

A lone ship of Hidden Mist rocked in the water many miles east of the Wave Country, gradually approaching it's destination. Ichira Tenryou, the man known as The Thunder of the Seven Swordsmen stood leaning against the railing of the ship looking down into the water. He was the only of the seven who was working without a partner, though he did have a team of five Mist Jounin with him as backup in case anything went wrong. His mission was fairly simple. Enter the Wave Country and destroy the bridge connecting it to the Fire Country. He doubted there would be any enemy shinobi to interfere and if there were...Well, they'd only be a minor inconvenience. As a man who had never lost a fight in his life, Tenryou feared nothing.


	5. First Contact

**First Contact**

Hundreds of needles made of pure energy rained down on the village that Naruto and Sakura had left only three days before. The roofs of all the houses were completely wrecked and the bodies of villagers who had tried to escape were scattered across the ground, as were the bodies of those who had taken up crude swords and spears and tried to fight back. At the center of the chaos stood Kyoshin Miyako, daughter of the Tsuchikage. Finally satisfied that there were no survivors, she stopped performing her handseals and the lethal rain stopped.

No more than five minutes later Itoshi Arata and the rest of the squad walked into the remains of the village and walked up to meet her. All of them looked annoyed except for Arata, who simply looked angry. Miyako spoke before any of them got the chance to. "Let's move on. I'm finished here."

"I ordered you to stay put. This village wasn't one of our targets. There was no reason to attack it." Arata stated, completely ignoring her comments.

"Even if they are not our primary targets, every village we destroy hurts our enemy. There was also no reason not to attack it. Now let's move on, the first target is only an hour away." She walked past him without looking at him directly as she spoke.

The leader scowled at her, but after a moment decided to let it go for now and addressed the rest of the team. "Alright! Let's move out!"

* * *

Neji stood outside one of several blacksmiths in a village on the border of the Fire Country, far from Konoha. He and the three members of the ANBU Squad he commanded had been assigned to defend it just a few hours after his visit with Shino, as it was a fairly large producer of weapons for the village. So far the mission had been uneventful. He glanced over as a young woman, one of his subordinates, running down the street towards him. "Hyuuga-sama." She said with a small nod.

"What's the matter?"

"There are seven shinobi wearing Hidden Stone forehead protectors approaching the village the west. If they keep their pace they'll arrive in about fifteen minutes." She responded quickly.

"It looks like stationing us here was a good idea...inform the others and prepare for battle. We'll take them by surprise as soon as they enter the village. I don't want to lose anyone in this fight." And with that he headed towards the east side of the town, the woman taking off to prepare the other two members of the squad.

With his Byakugan, Neji was the first one to spot them nearly a quarter of an hour later. As reported, there were only seven of them. They were still outnumbered but they had the advantage of familiar terrain. "It looks like none of them are above Chuunin level. Their chakra is fairly weak." He said to the three behind him.

"Everyone scatter. When I give the signal we attack from all sides."

Without a word the group took up hiding places and waited. Before long the seven shinobi stepped out of the forest and into the village, Itoshi Arata and Kyoshin Miyako leading the way. Neji waited for them to come into range and threw a single kunai into the center of them from the rooftop he had been laying on, an explosive note fixed to it. The group reacted quickly, dodging just fast enough for all of them to avoid the blast. However they weren't fast enough to dodge the simultaneous attacks of the ANBU.

Neji targetted the girl who had been leading the rest hitting her directly in the stomach with his open palm, intending to end it in a single blow. She doubled over for a moment, then lifted her head enough to look at him. "You Leaf shinobi are as stupid as I'd heard." The moment she finished the sentence all seven of the enemy shinobi exploded into pure chakra and faded into the air.

_That explains the low chakra! Why didn't I realize!? Where are the real bodies? _Neji thought, angry at himself for not seeing through their trick. He'd never seen that type of clone before and it had caught him off guard. While he thought, the entire village began to tremble. "Get off the ground!" He screamed as he leaped, the rest of the team following just in time.

Only moments after they left the ground it ripped open beneath them and six of the seven shinobi who had just vanished jumped out from the hole, landing on it's edges. With a deafening cracking sound several dozen stone blades rose rapidly from it, straight at the ANBU. Neji twisted his body in the air, managing to avoid being impaled on it. Placing a hand on the dull side of it, he pushed off and landed on his feet on the rooftop he'd been on before. Two of his team members did nearly the same thing, the woman who had first brought him news of the approaching enemies wasn't so lucky.

_Those are definitely the real bodies. Judging by their chakra they're all upper Jounin level. This could be rough._ Neji realized as the stone blades crumbled and the body of the ANBU fell to the ground. A platform of stone rose in their place, closing the hole. Standing on it was the giant of a man, Itoshi Arata. "I figured you'd have some kind of defense set up here...looks like I called it right. If you surrender now we won't kill any more of you. I recommend you take my offer, you have no chance against us seven on three."

Neji kept perfectly calm even though he knew the odds were stacked heavily against them. He raised one hand and gave a single to the last two members of his team who instantly began performing seals. The Stone shinobi reacted as well without waiting for any order from Arata and drew their weapons, charging the two to stop them from finishing their jutsu. Neji launched himself forward at the girl he had gone after before, once again aiming a palm for her stomach.

This time she avoided it gracefully and formed a chakra katana in her right hand, slashing down at the Hyuuga's shoulder. He twisted and pulled a kunai from the pouch on his leg to block it, pushing forward hard as the blades connected to create some distance between them. "So those clones were yours. You're a member of the Kyoshin Clan."

"That's none of your concern." She responded as she threw the katana at him.

It broke apart in the air and reformed into needles. He rolled under them and got back onto his feet just in front of her, slashing at her throat with the knife. It took her no effort to dodge backwards, form another katana and stab straight forward. He dodged to the right and thrust his palm at her again which she blocked with a small shield of chakra that had formed in her free hand. Then without any warning the katana changed shape, stabbing directly into Neji's side.

"Maybe this will teach the Hokage not to underestimate Hidden Stone. Sending only four shinobi to defend a village only resulted in him losing all four." She said in a tone that said she really couldn't care either way.

"Hakke Hasangeki!" Neji shouted as he pushed his hand harder into her shield, shattering it with a powerful wave of chakra and sending her flying backwards.

He ripped the sword out of his side and threw it to the ground then glanced to see what was happening. Two of the Stone shinobi were down but only one member of his team was still alive and wasn't faring well against four enemies. He didn't have too much time to think about it though before Miyako started a series of seals and needles began to form in the air above him and shoot down like rain.

Neji instantly reacted and started spinning rapidly, sending all of the needes flying away from him. However Miyako simply continued the seals and they kept coming. He could feel himself starting to weaken from the blood he was losing through the wound in his side. It was only a matter of time before he'd have to stop his defense. _No other choice...I have to gamble._

He stopped spinning and at the moment before the attack struck him he sent chakra out from every chakra point in his body, preventing any more than the very tip of each needle from actually piercing him. As soon as they did Miyako stopped the jutsu and he fell to one knee, knowing that any chance of winning this fight was already gone. The mission was a failure.

Suddenly small walls of stone burst up on either side of him, what looked like teeth bordering them. He expected them to crush him as they slammed together, but instead they simply trapped him. Arata walked over to his jutsu, the last member of the ANBU team having been finished off a moment before. "We'll keep this one for questioning. I'm pretty sure he was the Captain...he'll have the most information."

Miyako scoffed at this. "I would've just killed him, but whatever. Do what you want."

As Neji's prison sank down into the ground Arata glared at the girl. If anyone else acted the way she had since the moment they set out, he would have ordered them to return to the village. If he did that with her he'd have to answer to the Tsuchikage. It wasn't worth it yet. "Burn the village! Then we move on and reach the next before nightfall!" He shouted to the other three surviving shinobi.

They all obeyed immediately and began to carry out the order.

* * *

The forest had given way to a region that gradually grew more mountainous as time went on. "We're on the edge of the Earth Country now...it would be too dangerous to go any farther until we know exactly what we're heading into." Shino said over his shoulder to Kiba and Hinata.

"What? We come this far and now we're just gonna stop?" Kiba asked in a clearly annoyed tone.

"Only temporarily..." Shino responded as he held his arms out to the sides.

Clouds of insects poured out of each sleeve and flew off in every direction. "If another Aburame has been here in the past week, one of them will be able to pick up the trail. That's where we'll start. Until then...this is where we camp."


End file.
